I feel like this reading put me in some sort of live coding crisis because I genuinely couldn’t pick which side I’m with more. I do my demos with Deadmau5 logic in mind, reliability over improvisation, but that doesn’t mean I actually agree with it. I think I just do it because it’s safe. But then that makes me feel like am I even really ‘live’ coding when I do that?

When we were doing the jam session in class, it felt completely different. A lot more improvisation was happening. I was very intimidated at first, but then I started playing around with Tidal. Worst case, you just mute the sound and move on. That felt way more ‘live’ to me. I’d much rather if I were the audience watch someone improvise rather than watch someone take the predictable route.

However, as the performer, I think I’m kind of stuck between both. I default to safe and reliable when I’m on my own, but I actually enjoy the improvisation side more when I put my nerves aside.